Quantcast
skip navigation

Tre Holloman of Cretin-Derham Hall, a leader in every sense of the word, is the Star Tribune Metro Player of the Year

By Jim Paulsen, Star Tribune, 03/22/22, 9:45AM CDT

Share

The senior guard, and Michigan State commit, fills up the stat sheet while fueling teammates’ success.

“I’m the point guard and I’ve been a winner. They trust me,” Tre Holloman said of his relationship with his teammates.


Cretin-Derham Hall assistant coach Tony Yazbeck saw something he’d never seen before when an early-season practice came to a halt. And Yazbeck, long a fixture with the Howard Pulley club, has seen plenty.

The Raiders’ remarkable point guard, Tre Holloman, had taken it upon himself to pause the practice to ensure his teammates were in the right places.

“He stopped practice and started moving guys around, telling them they should be here or he wants them there,” Yazbeck recalled. “He just knew where they needed to be. I haven’t seen a player do that before.”

“I’m the point guard and I’ve been a winner,” Holloman said. “They trust me.”

It’s precisely for such heady play that Holloman is the 2022 Star Tribune Metro Player of the Year in boys’ basketball.

What sets him apart is that the 6-1 Holloman is a point guard in the truest sense. His feel for the role is innate, his understanding instinctive. He’s a natural, believing his most important task is making the team better. With Holloman, personal satisfaction is found in setting up his teammates and making them better. Individual glory is intricately tied to team success.

“I don’t know where it comes from actually,” said Holloman. “I think it just comes from watching point guards and my mom being a coach. It just comes naturally. I just want to help the team win.”

Holloman’s mother is former Gophers guard Crystal Flint, now the girls’ basketball coach at Cretin-Derham Hall.

He views the game a little differently than most, seeing plays and possibilities others do not. He plays point guard chess, thinking two, three moves ahead.

“He sees things other players don’t see and he sees them before they happen,” said Cretin-Derham Hall head coach Jerry Kline. “He’s like a coach on the floor.”

Kline relayed a story about the rarity of Holloman’s gifts. After his freshman year, Holloman was participating in a basketball combine/camp in a western state designed to showcase talent for college coaches.

“There were a lot of coaches there and the older players were on one court,” Kline said. “The younger players were on another court, but most of the coaches were watching the older players. Except for [Michigan State coach] Tom Izzo. He went straight to the court Tre was on to watch him. He knew then how special Tre was going to be. He’d even come to his football games.”

That was the beginning of a relationship that ended up with Holloman committing to Michigan State and signing with the Spartans in November.

He’s not just a passer, either. Holloman knows when it’s time to use his fast-twitch first step and his slippery moves to create open shots for himself. Whatever is needed at a particular moment, Kline is comfortable that Holloman will find a way to make it happen.

After playing for Minneapolis North as a middle schooler in eighth grade, Holloman enrolled at Cretin-Derham Hall before his freshman year because his parents were adamant he receive a private school education.

In his four years there, Holloman has amassed 2,072 points, 1,103 assists, 669 rebounds and 422 steals, becoming just the third player in state history to accumulate such lofty numbers. He surpassed former Gopher Daniel Oturu to become the schools’ all-time leading scorer earlier this month.

Exceptional numbers, sure. But what Holloman is most proud of is producing wins.

Last April, with Holloman running the show, the Raiders made it to the Class 4A championship game before falling to Wayzata.

He’s got them back to the state tournament this year, helping them overcome an up-and-down season in which they were incorporating a few newcomers into key roles. He hit the game-winning 18-footer with 2.5 seconds left to lift the Raiders to a 52-51 victory over East Ridge in the Section 4 final.

Cretin-Derham Hall is playing its best basketball of the year, having won seven games in a row, and Holloman is right where he wants be.

“I feel like I have some unfinished business,” he said.


Past Star Tribune Metro Players of the Year

2021: Chet Holmgren, Minnehaha Academy
2020: Jalen Suggs, Minnehaha Academy
2019: Zeke Nnaji, Hopkins
2018: Tre Jones, Apple Valley
2017: McKinley Wright, Champlin Park
2016: Amir Coffey, Hopkins
2015: JT Gibson, Champlin Park
2014: Tyus Jones, Apple Valley
2013: Reid Travis, DeLaSalle
2012: Tyus Jones, Apple Valley
2011: Joe Coleman, Hopkins
2010: Kevin Noreen, Minnesota Transitions
2009: Mike Bruesewitz, Henry Sibley
2008: Anthony Tucker, Minnetonka
2007: Cole Aldrich, Bloomington Jefferson
2006: Bryce Webster, St. Thomas Academy
2005: Travis Busch, Mounds View
2004: Spencer Tollackson, Chaska
2003: Kris Humphries, Hopkins
2002: Humphries
2001: Alan Anderson, DeLaSalle
2000: Adam Boone, Minnetonka
1999: Shane Schilling, Minnetonka
1998: Joel Przybilla, Monticello
1997: Jared Nuness, Hopkins
1996: Khalid El-Amin, Minneapolis North
1995: Nate Holmstadt, Monticello
1994: Sam Jacobson, Park of Cottage Grove
1993: Skipp Schaefbauer, Elk River
1992: Bret Yonke, Eagan
1991: Brian Carpenter, Minneapolis Washburn
1990: Mike VandeGarde, Bloomington Jefferson
1989: Juriad Hughs, St. Paul Central
1988: Mike Polomny, Park Center
1987: Kevin Lynch, Bloomington Jefferson
           Dan Banister, Minneapolis North
1986: Steve Schlotthauer, Mounds View

 

 

Basketball Hub Headlines

Feed for https://www.startribune.com/sports/index.rss2